10: The Room of Classical Greek Art

Krater

Circa 490 BC

A krater is a large vessel used for mixing wine and water. This example is decorated with the story of Danae, daughter of Acrisius, King of Argos, and mother of Perseus. The Oracle predicted that Acrisius would die at the hands of his own grandson and therefore he locked up his daughter in a cavern, dooming her to eternal virginity. But the god Zeus fell in love with the beautiful girl and entered her chamber in the form of a golden rain. From their union Perseus was born. Acrisius had made a large trunk in which he placed both daughter and grandson and sent them off to sea.

The scenes of the meeting between Danae and Zeus and the placing of the heroine in the trunk was drawn by an Attic artist in the 5th century BC. He noted many realistic details - in Danae's room there is a colourful mattress and cushion, a mirror and a woman's cap hang on the wall, there is an elegant little stand for Danae's feet. The tools used in the making of the trunk are also clearly shown - the adze, drill and axe. But there are also many stylizations, such as the rather flat twist of the bodies (head and legs in profile, eyes and shoulders en face) and the decorative treatment of the folds of drapery, which use the scheme known as "swallow tail". Monumental in style, the painting is highly skilled and is one of the first instances of the myth of Danae being represented in art, although the subject was to be increasingly popular over the centuries.